Autumn 2013 – First Impressions (Part 1)

You can also add Kyousogiga in this post as a keeper but, since it was simply a repeat of the original OVA, I really have nothing new to add. Except that Kyousogiga is still awesome in just about every way. I am a slight bit disappointed that it wasn’t a new episode but I can’t fault them by wanting to start from the beginning again for this new TV anime.

Watching:

Coppelion

Two things that hardly ever change in anime are the setting and the background art. With stunning, gorgeous visual environments and a magnificent setting in a forsaken, post-apocalyptic Tokyo, Coppelion has a solid foundation for which to construct a great anime. And what will help build up this anime are the development of a proper story and its trio of main characters. To be fair, I didn’t think the story or the characters were all that great but both showed plenty of potential moving forward. The three personalities started off as purely ‘anime-ish’ but that’s only the starting point, not the ending point. I’m sure once the characters have more time on screen and are challenged by the events of this anime, they’ll develop into well-rounded and interesting characters. I’m not sure what to make of the story but, at this point, I figure it’ll involve the girls finding out some mystery and fighting against the organization they’re a part of. And while that doesn’t excite me all that much, it might turn out to be pretty decent. The one negative aspect I have with this anime is the character art and character design. The characters look superimposed on these backgrounds, almost like the anime is made with 2 separate layers throughout. Doesn’t look all that great. And seeing as this anime has some minor fanservice (upskirts where you see their butts, no pantyshots), I’d rather have the three main characters wear something else than schoolgirl outfits. I mean, are you trying to be cute or funny or ecchi? Maybe there’ll be an explanation but it looks like it’s just cheap fanservice right now.

KILL la KILL

Kill La Kill has everything I want in an anime. Not only does it remind me of two of my favorite anime, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Needless, but it has plenty of its own uniqueness and distinctiveness to differentiate itself from virtually every other anime. The style and presentation is unparalleled and Kill La Kill uses its animation to make every scene thrilling and invigorating rather than a means of filling space with talking heads. The fighting and action sequences are seamless and within the story itself, and let’s not forget that they’re visual marvels to enjoy, too. And Ryuuko as a character, both personality and looks, matches perfectly with my personal favorite archetype. The other characters are pretty great too, notably Mako, and all have a great role in this anime to start. The story has plenty of elements for fun while also exploring a serious, captivating plot and plenty was described clearly with this first episode. Honestly, I can’t say anything bad about this series. Even the frequent fanservice was a positive. The fanservice never felt distracting or tasteless, only being used at times for fun, humor or to add spice to already exciting scenes. Then again, I had anticipated this to be my favorite anime of the season when I saw it announced, so I expected it to be right about here after one episode. Nevertheless, to have Kill La Kill perform at or beyond my expectations is a wonderful way to start this series. This should be the first episode of what will be a phenomenal and memorable anime.

Nagi no Asukara

As stated with Coppelion earlier, the setting and background art are two aspects that usually don’t change in an anime, and fortunately for Nagi no Asukara, these are two of the biggest strengths of this anime. The visual environments of Nagi no Asukara are colorful masterpieces with plenty of detail and lighting to bring the setting to life. And the setting itself, one that links a troubled, conflicted underwater civilization with a pompous landlubber society, it not only imaginative but holds the potential to greatly influence the characters and story. The characters seem decent so far and I enjoyed the focus on Manaka’s difficulties coupled with the fact she’s a timid crybaby who doesn’t respond well to challenges or problems. The story seems pretty plain thus far but the undertones of societal (or even racial) relations between the two sides, not to mention the environmentalism aspect, is sure to lead the series in the right direction in whatever plot it hopes to explore. The character designs are pretty typical for PA Works which is a pleasant, cute style that has grown on me. The one thing that worries me about this anime is that, while it has the potential to mature into a wonderful anime, it might not have the appropriate pacing to satisfy me. That is to say, I’m worried that the anime will be slow and boring at parts. However, it never felt that way with the first episode, so hopefully this issue doesn’t pop up in the middle of the series when the initial charm of this anime begins to wane.

Undecided:

Nothing here. All five anime in this post were fairly easy decisions.

Dropped:

Kyoukai no Kanata

Although Kyoukai no Kanata surpassed my expectations as an anime, I’m still planning on dropping it. Sure, the battle animation was remarkable and the comedy was genuinely funny, but the entertaining aspects, undoubtedly my favorite features of this anime, were just too infrequent in this first episode. Whatever momentary joy I derived from this episode was sandwiched by long, boring conversations. The writing and dialogue was only decent when Mirai was on screen and painful when Mitsuki showed up. Ugh, her character was an absolute waste of time and space and I wonder if I’d be watching this show if it were just Mirai and Akihito the whole time. Then again, the series didn’t offer me anything particularly interesting through its story or its setting; it’s just a couple of kids with overactive imagination. And while the anime might develop into something fun later on (doubt it, it’ll be another lackluster romance), the serious perspective on everyone’s chuunibyou personalities was a turn off. If only it had more comedy and style to it to make it fun and entertaining. Oh well, it won’t be long before Chuunibyou 2 comes out, so I think I’ll just wait until that comes out again.

Strike the Blood

Strike the Blood was painful in just about every aspect. The characters were completely devoid of personalities or anything to make them interesting. The whole time, it felt like there was no emotion or excitement or energy from the cast. Hell, the tone from the vampire protagonist was unchanged from talking with friends to being stalked to stopping a street fight. Where’s the interest in this anime if you’re not going to be interested in anything? The story, from what I gathered before closing out the episode early, is about these supernatural monsters that live on this secluded city island for whatever reason and cause chaos and destruction when hitting on demon-hunting schoolgirls. That might be fine but you know the story is never going to improve when the dialogue was so dry and unintelligent. Pretty much all the conversations were straightforward exposition, like the anime thought we were too dumb to understand anything unless it stated everything directly rather than attempting to make it sound like people conversing. The only action in this first episode was a brief fight that seemed to be over before it started. And the only comedy revolved around seeing the main girl’s panties three times; not only a cheap joke but a wasted opportunity since the joke was never funny to begin with. Instead, it was pretty much fanservice that stopped the story for 30 seconds before allowing it to continue. But at that point, why would you want to continue watching this? If there was a reason, I couldn’t find it.